The statue was a bizarre thing.

Five faces, ten arms, all sharing a single torso.

Each face wore a completely different expression.

One had downcast eyes, its features carved with sorrow and compassion for the world.

Another was stern and severe, glaring straight ahead with barely contained fury.

And one of them… its brow was faintly furrowed, its look delicate and pitiable. Yet the longer one looked, the more clearly one could make out a coquettish, alluring charm beneath that feigned reluctance.

It was Senior Sister Zhao.

A sudden warmth surged in Li Fan's chest, and a tangle of intimate, distracting thoughts sprouted unbidden.

For a fleeting moment, he could even hear her soft whisper at his ear.

Something's wrong!

The alarm jolted him free of the illusion, and cold sweat broke out across his skin.

When he looked again, the vivid expressions were gone. The features of all five faces had gone indistinct, their details blurred past recognition.

"What is this?" Li Fan asked, feigning calm as he retrieved the ten-armed statue.

The black-robed cultivator's face lit up with fervor at the sight of the multicolored statue in Li Fan's hand. "This is a Heavenly Venerable World Manifestation Statue,"...